MUNICH, July 16 (Xinhua) — Unknown perpetrators set fire to a building intended to house future asylum seekers early on Thursday morning in Bavaria, police reported.

According to the Bavarian police, at about 2:50 a.m. local time (0050 GMT) a resident saw the fire and reported it to police.

Two entrances of the still-vacant building complex in the municipality of Reichertshofen in the district of Pfaffenhofen were intentionally set on fire in the early hours of Thursday, according to media reports.

Police spokesman Hans-Peter Kammerer said that a special commission had been set up to investigate, as the xenophobic element of the case cannot be excluded.

There were reportedly protests in the village against the accommodation of asylum seekers in the past.

The damage is assumed to be at least 150,000 euros (about 163,500 U.S. dollars).